Razzies 2018: These Oscar-winning stars are all up for worst actor awards

2018-01-23 16:03by Lindsay de Freitas

PHOTO: Getty Images/ Gallo Images

Awards season is in full swing and that means it’s time for the
least-anticipated event on Hollywood’s awards season calendar: The Golden
Raspberry Awards.

And this year, the list of nominees are, surprisingly, littered
with Oscar-winners.

“Welcome to the 38th Razzie Nominees,” announced the video clip, which was released on
22 January – a day before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
releases its list of Oscar nominees. The nominations for the mock awards show were
unveiled in a tongue-in-cheek, YouTube video titled "How to protect
humanity from Razzie toxic waste."

"Hazardous waste is generated from many sources, ranging
from the industry's lack of original content, recycled scripts – usually from a
stable of hack writers – derivative dialogue, phone-in performances and
brilliant studio bean counters overseeing the entire process from cradle to a
quick grave," the video declares.

Last year saw Batman v Superman take home four Razzies. This
year Transformers: The Last Knight leads the pack with nine nominations – the
flick is nominated in every category bar one (Worst Actress). Yet despite lacklustre
reviews, the 5th film in the franchise earned a healthy $605 million (over R7
billion) at the worldwide box office last
year 17.

Fifty Shades Darker – which Razzie founder John Wilson called “more sleep-inducing than sexy,” – is nominated in seven
categories, including Worst Picture, according to Reuters.

Surprisingly, this year’s nominees list contains more than its
fair share of lauded Oscar winners. Jennifer Lawrence – who won an Oscar in
2013 for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook – has been nominated Worst
Actress for her role in divisive thriller, Mother!
Her co-star Javier Bardem, who earned his Oscar for No Country
for Old Men in 2008, also felt the wrath of the Razzie voters with his Worst
Actor nomination.

Other slated Oscar alums include Russell Crowe (Gladiator, 2001)
and Mel Gibson (Braveheart, 1996) who were nominated for their roles in The
Mummy and Daddy Day Care 2, respectively.

According to betting website Sportsbet, poor
Russell is the favourite to win in the Worst Actor category. His portrayal of
Dr Henry Jekyll in The Mummy was widely panned by critics,
Sceenrant reports.

Three-time Oscar nominee Johnny Depp – a perennial Razzie target
– was also singled out for what John J. B. Wilson called “his worn
out drunk routine” in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

The Razzies were co-founded by
film graduates of the University of California, Los Angeles and film-industry
veterans, John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy with the first ceremony held in March
1981. The event, which annually recognises the worst in film, traditionally
precedes the Academy Awards ceremony by one day, and this year winners will be
announced on 3 March.

The awards is spray-painted gold and comes in the form of a
raspberry which sits atop a film reel. Nominees and winners of the Razzies are
voted for online by around 1 000 Razzie members from 24 countries, who sign up online and pay a $40
(R486) membership fee.

Although nominees rarely attend the ceremony there have been a
few memorable exceptions. Sandra Bullock turned up in person to collect her
Worst Actress trophy for All About Steve in 2010, while in 2005 Halle Berry was
there to accept the Worst Actress award for Catwoman and delivered a spoof of
the speech she gave at the 2002 Academy Awards, where she won an Oscar for
Monster's Ball.

Worst actorTom Cruise (The Mummy)Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales)Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades Darker)Zac Efron (Baywatch)Mark Wahlberg (Daddy’s Home 2 and Transformers: The Last Knight)

Worst supporting actorJavier Bardem (Mother! and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales)Russell Crowe (The Mummy)Josh Duhamel (Transformers: The Last Knight)Mel Gibson (Daddy’s Home 2)Anthony Hopkins (Collide and Transformers: The Last Knight)

Worst screen comboAny Combination of Two
Characters, Two Sex Toys, or Two Sexual Positions – Fifty
Shades DarkerAny Combination of Two
Humans, Two Robots, or Two Explosions – Transformers: The Last
KnightAny Two Obnoxious Emojis –
The Emoji MovieJohnny Depp and His Worn-Out
Drunk Routine – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Careers Tell No
TalesTyler Perry and Either the
Ratty Old Dress or Worn-Out Wig – Boo! 2: A Madea Halloween